Cigarette lighter with watch bracelet



April 20, 1965 J. CHRISTENSEN CIGARETTE LIGHTER WITH WATCH BRACELET Filed March 12 1962 INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,178,912 CIGARETTE LIGHTER WITH WATCH BRACELET Jorgen Christensen, Canadian Research and Development Foundation, 1437 Van Horne Ave., Montreal, Quebec, Canada Filed Mar. 12, 1962, Ser. No. 178,990 4 Claims. (Cl. 67-41) This invention relates to cigarette lighters of a type which are compact as to be easily portable and carried about on the person.

It is well known that many types of portable lighters have been proposed and indeed such lighters have been used to advantage by many persons. An attendant fault with such prior lighters is the ease with which these lighters are lost by persons by being carelessly mislaid.

It has been found by practice of the present invention that this fault may be overcome with the provision of a lighter adapted to be secured to a conventional watch bracelet or even to be provided with a separate bracelet, thus to be worn about the wrist.

Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a cigarette lighter which by the addition of an auxiliary or special wrist strap may be carried on the person, without danger of losing.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cigarette lighter which is adaptable to be fastened to a conventional wrist watch bracelet.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a cigarette lighter which while being worn about the wrist may be ignited without danger of scorching the user.

These and other objects and features of this invention will become apparent when taken in conjuction with the following discussion and accompanying drawings in which like numerals refer to like parts.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention illustrating the working mechanism thereof;

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 in FIG. 1; and,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a preferred form of the present invention as installed upon a conventional wrist watch band.

With reference to FIG. 1 a cigarette lighter according to the present invention is indicated generally as 11 and comprises housing 12 having a fuel chamber 13 and mechanism chamber 14 contained therein.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of the drawing it will be seen that mechanism chamber 14 houses wick 15 protruding through neck 16 and providing communication of lighter fluid from chamber 13 into mechanism chamber 14. Located within mechanism chamber 14 is friction wheel 17 in operable engagement with flint 18. As will be seen in FIG. 1 flint 18 is held within guide 19, and biased by spring force (not shown), being thus held by screw 20.

The friction wheel 17 operating device comprises ratchet wheel 21 secured to friction wheel 17 and rotatably mounted within housing 12 therewith. A rack 22 is slidably secured within socket 23 and is pressurably biased therefrom by spring 24 so as to be in engagement with ratchet wheel 21 at all times.

In FIG. 2 chamber lid 25 is shown in solid in the closed position and as indicated at 26 in the fully open position. A downwardly projecting arm 27 of lid 25 is secured thereto and engages within slot 28 in rack 22 whereby closing action of lid 25 compresses spring 24. Obviously ice upon release of lid 25 spring 24 moving rack 22 forwardly will through arm 27 open lid 25 to position 26.

Referring to FIG. 3 the retention mechanism for lid 25 isillustrated and comprises button 29 fitted within circular socket 30 and having aninwardly projecting arm 31 passing through slot 32 formed in housing 12 at the bottom of socket 36. A hook portion 33 is adapted for the biasing of spring 34 to engage a lower projection 35 located upon the side of chamber lid 25.

Referring again to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 fuel chamber 13 is provided with a fuel entry in the form of cap 36, the said chamber being preferably filled with a loose cellular material. Also in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 a conventional method of attaching straps to a watch case is illustrated and embodied in the present invention, such means consisting of blind holes 37 formed in projecting cars 38 at each end of housing 12.

Referring to FIG. 4 the method of installing the present invention upon a conventional bracelet is illustrated wherein lighter 11 is shown fitted with clamp portions 39 and 40 having feet 41 which are deformable to encompass a conventional bracelet 42.

In use it will be seen that wick 15 will convey combustible fuel from within chamber 13 to a position adjacent friction wheel 17. Upon depression of button 29 release of chamber lid 25 will be effected and rack 22 moving forward will rotate ratchet wheel 21 and thus friction wheel 17. In a well known manner flint 18 will generate sparks to ignite fuel on wick 15. Upon completion of utilization of flame from wick 15 such as lighting a cigarette lid 25 is depressed which will in turn compress spring 24 until hook 33 engages with projection 35 and locks lid 25 in place, ready for the next sequence of operation.

It will be seen that although clamp portions 39 provide means of installing lighter 11 upon a conventional bracelet the lighter 11 may also be used as an intermediate portion between the ends of a bracelet by the simple expediency of using the conventional sockets 37 located on housing 12.

It will be further understood that although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described that various alternatives in design are also contemplated and such alternatives would fall within the scope of the appended claims.

The embodiments of this invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A cigarette lighter comprising: a housing member; a fuel chamber within said housing; a mechanism chamber within said housing; a wick providing fuel communication between said fuel chamber and said mechanism chamber; a lid on said mechanism chamber and pivotally operable to close same; an axially mounted friction wheel; a flint in said housing pressurably biased against said friction wheel by a spring; a ratchet wheel subjacent to said friction wheel and coaxially mounted therewith; a rack cooperable with said rachet wheel; said rack biased with a spring; means on said lid whereby said spring is released upon the opening of said lid and compressed upon the closing of said lid; and retaining members pivotally depending from said housing and adapted to encompass a wrist band whereby said housing is longitudinally slidable along said wrist band.

2. A cigarette lighter as defined in claim 1 including release means on said housing adapted to releasably secure said lid.

3. A cigarette lighter as defined in claim 1 in which said lid includes a depending member cooperable with a slot in said rack whereby said spring biasing said rack is compressed upon the closing of said lid and released upon the opening of said lid.

a l 4. A cigarette lighter as defined in claim 1 in which 2,567,398 9/51 Pfeifer 24-265 said wrist band is endless. 2,998,718 9/61 Sanchez 674.1

References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGI? PATENTS Y 5 13 7,025 4/34 Austria. UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 590,632 7/ 47 Great Britain. 1

1 Examiner.

1,883,752 10/32 Barnes 67-7.1 I PERCY L. PATRICK, Examiner. 

1. A CIGARETTE LIGHTER COMPRISING: A HOUSING MEMBER; A FUEL CHAMBER WITHIN SAID HOUSING; A MECHANISM CHAMBER WITHIN SAID HOUSING; A WICK PROVIDING FUEL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SAID FUEL CHAMBER AND SAID MECHANISM CHAMBER; A LID ON SAID MECHANISM CHAMBER AND PIVOTALLY OPERABLE TO CLOSE SAME; AN AXIALLY MOUNTED FRICTION WHEEL; A FLINT IN SAID HOUSING PRESSURABLY BIASED AGAINST SAID FRICTION WHEEL BY A SPRING; A RATCHET WHEEL SUBJACENT TO SAID FRICTION WHEEL AND COAXIALLY MOUNTED THEREWITH; A 